Archive for January 22, 2011

Like many pizza logos, Domino’s (headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan) uses the red colors associated with the food. Its logo, however, is more a representation of the company name than of the type of food. Once called Dominick’s, Domino’s Pizza is now recognized all over the world thanks to having one of the world’s most identifiable logos, a red, white, and blue domino turned on its tip.

Pizza Hut (headquarters in Dallas, Texas) company’s recognizable red roof has left its mark on the logo. Beneath the red ‘hat’, the Pizza Hut features a familiar green splash, an easily legible name, and a yellow accent. Using the roof in the pizza logos has helped Pizza Hut develop a brand that is easily recognizable by customers all over the United States.

Many pizza logos have round shapes to evoke the recognizable shape of a pizza, but Round Table (headquarters in Walnut Creek,California) sets themselves apart by using a less generic square. Round Table makes that square green to suggest freshness, while the large white letters used for the company’s name are easy to identify against the dark background. Three medieval flags at the top of the logo pay homage to the medieval nature of the company’s name. The motto is often placed below the logo lest customers forget that they are the ‘last honest pizza’.

Papa John’s (headquarters in Louisville,Kentucky) is a good example of success in creating logos that are simple yet effective. This company’s pizza logos stick to red (for pizza) and green (for freshness). There are no graphics, merely the company name and motto: “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.” This gives the image of simplicity, which is congruent with the company’s core values.

When it comes to pizza logos, Papa Murphy’s (headquarters in Vancouver, Washington) follows the same route as Papa John’s. Using the main colors red and green, the name is displayed prominently in an easy to read font. The key difference is in the font: Papa Murphy’s uses a cursive font, while Papa John’s uses block letters with serifs.

Godfather’s Pizza (headquarters in Omaha,Nebraska) offers Taco Feast combo includes taco pizza, burrito-like Taco Stix and cinnamon sticks for dessert. The brand name brings a smile to any one who has either read The Godfather book or watched the movie. The icon looks a little weak and confusing. Upon closer inspection one realizes it is a hand holding a hot pizza.

Little Caesars Pizza’s (headquarters in Detroit, Michigan) Hot and Ready program offers premade pizzas to lure walk-in diners and cut waiting times. By far the weakest logo, Little Caeser’s logo shows a cave man eating a slice of pizza while in his other hand is a pizza stuck to the end of a stick. The font used also looks quite tacky.

Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza’s (headquarters in Irving, Texas) menu is expanding with sandwiches, salads, even cotton candy and dessert pizzas. Targeted at the family and children market, the Chuck E Cheese’s logo is cartoony and quite easy on the eye. One could argue that it looks so similar to Tom from Tom and Jerry and perhaps could constitute copyright infringement!

CiCi’s Pizza (headquarters in Coppell, Texas) offers specialty pizzas including Pizza Olé, Spinach Alfredo, Tomato Alfredo and Zesty Ham and Cheddar. Cici’s logo is quite uninspiring and cliche. It shows the line art of a pizza with a tomato in the middle.

Hungry Howie’s Pizza & Subs (headquarters in Madison Heights, Michigan) offers flavored-crust pizzas (above) or new Bold & Spicy Sauce on any pizza with Cajun bread on the side. Hungry Howies logo looks confusing (especially at small sizes) and shows a cartoon boy/child licking his lips and the head seems to have been placed on a pizza.

Did you know what is dehydration?

Dehydration occurs when the amount of water leaving the body is greater than the amount being taken in. The body is very dynamic and always changing. This is especially true with water in the body. We lose water routinely when we:

breathe and humidified air leaves the body;

sweat to cool the body; and

urinate or have a bowel movement to rid the body of waste products.

Because water is a critical element of the body, and adequate hydration is a must to allow the body to function. Up to 75% of the body’s weight is made up of water. Most of the water is found within the cells of the body (intracellular space). The rest is found in what is referred to as the extracellular space, which consists of the blood vessels (intravascular space) and the spaces between cells (interstitial space).Total body water = intracellular space + intravascular space + interstitial space

Did you know that in a normal day, a person has to drink a significant amount of water to replace this routine loss?

Did you know that if intravascular (within the blood vessels) water is lost, the body can compensate somewhat by shifting water from within the cells into the blood vessels, but this is a very short-term solution?

Did you know that the body lives within a very narrow range of normal parameters, and signs and symptoms of dehydration will occur quickly if the water is not replenished?

The body is able to monitor the amount of fluid it needs to function. Did you know that the thirst mechanism signals the body to drink water when the body is dry? As well, hormones like anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) work with the kidney to limit the amount of water lost in the urine when the body needs to conserve water.

Did you know what causes dehydration?

Dehydration occurs because there is too much water lost, not enough water taken in, or most often a combination of the two.

Diarrhea:Diarrhea is the most common reason for a person to loose excess amounts of water. A significant amount of water can be lost with each bowel movement. Worldwide, more than four million children die each year because of dehydration from diarrhea.

Vomiting:Vomiting can also be a cause of fluid loss and it is difficult for a person to replace water by drinking it if they are unable to tolerate liquids.

Sweat: The body can lose significant amounts of water when it tries to cool itself by sweating. Whether the body is hot because of the environment (for example, working in a warm environment), intense exercising in a hot environment, or because a fever is present due to an infection; the body uses a significant amount of water in the form of sweat to cool itself. Depending upon weather conditions, a brisk walk may generate up to 16 ounces of sweat (a pound of water) to allow body cooling, and that water needs to be replaced.

Diabetes: In people with diabetes, elevated blood sugar levels cause sugar to spill into the urine and water then follows, which may cause significant dehydration. For this reason, frequent urination and excessive thirst are among the early symptoms of diabetes.

Burns:Burn victims become dehydrated because the damaged skin cannot prevent fluid from seeping out of the body. Other inflammatory diseases of the skin are also associated with fluid loss.

Inability to drink fluids: The inability to drink adequately is the other potential cause of dehydration. Whether it is the lack of availability of water or the lack of strength to drink adequate amounts, this, coupled with routine or extraordinary water losses can compound the degree of dehydration.

Did you know that fluid replacement is critical to replace fluids lost when exercising?

Did you know that drinking pure water exclusively isn’t the safest choice for those who participate in very strenuous or long-duration exercise?

Did you know that when significant amounts of fluid are lost through high-intensity exercise, replacement with water alone can lead to a chemical imbalance in the body and deficiencies in electrolytes, which are nutrients critical for organ functioning?

Did you know that the electrolytes in our body include sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium and phosphate, but sodium is the substance of most concern when replacing fluids lost through exercising?

Did you know that Hyponatremia is a condition in which the body’s stores of sodium are too low, and this condition can result from drinking extreme amounts of water?

Did you know that Hyponatremia can lead to confusion, lethargy, agitation, seizures, and in extreme cases, even death?

Did you know that early symptoms are nonspecific and subtle and may include disorientation, nausea, or muscle cramps?

Did you know that the symptoms of hyponatremia may also mimic those of dehydration, so athletes experiencing these symptoms may be given more water to drink, further worsening the condition?

David Fraser Nolan was an American activist and politician. He was one of the founders of the Libertarian Party of the United States, having hosted the meeting in 1971 at which the Party was founded died from a stroke.he was 66,.[2][3] Nolan subsequently served the party in a number of roles including National Chair, editor of the party newsletter, chairman of the By-laws Committee, chairman of the Judicial Committee, and Chairman of the Platform Committee.
He is also known as the popularizer and[4] as the inventor of the Nolan chart which attempts to improve on the simple left versus right political taxonomy by separating the issues of economic freedom and social freedom and presenting them in the format of a plane.

Political activism

While the traditional political “left-right” spectrum is a line, the Nolan chart, created by David Nolan, is a plane, situating libertarianism in a wider gamut of political thought.

Nolan was a member of Young Americans for Freedom in 1969 when more than 300 libertarians organized to take control of the organization from conservatives. Many walked out after a physical confrontation sparked by the burning of a draft card in protest to a conservative proposal against draft resistance. While sympathizing with the radicals, Nolan remained with the organization.[7] In 2009, David Nolan publicly endorsed the Free State Project,[8] an attempt to move 20,000 Libertarians to New Hampshire to experience “Liberty in their Lifetimes”.

Margaret Taylor-Burroughs was a prominent African American artist and writer and a co-founder of the DuSable Museum of African American History died she was , 95. She also helped to establish the South Side Community Art Center, whose opening on May 1, 1941 [1] was dedicated by the First Lady of the United StatesEleanor Roosevelt[2]. There at the age of 23 she served as the youngest member of its board of directors. Dr. Burroughs was a prolific writer, with her efforts directed toward the exploration of the Black experience and to children, especially to their appreciation of their cultural identity and to their introduction and growing awareness of art.

Professional life

Taylor-Burroughs taught at DuSable High School from 1946 to 1969, and from 1969 to 1979 was a professor of humanities at Kennedy-King College, a community college in Chicago. She also taught African American Art and Culture at Elmhurst College in 1968.

The DuSable Museum

Margaret and her husband Charles co-founded what is now called the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago in 1961. The institution was originally known as the Ebony Museum of Negro History and Art and made its debut in the living room of their house at 3806 S. Michigan Avenue in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Chicago’s south side [4], and Taylor-Burroughs served as its executive director for the first ten years of its existence. She was proud of the institution’s grass-roots beginnings: “…we’re the only one that grew out of the indigenous Black community. We weren’t started by anybody downtown; we were started by ordinary folks.[5].”
The museum moved to its current location at 740 E. 56th Place in Washington Park in 1973, and today is the oldest museum of Black culture in the United States.

A very special tribute in honor of a very special person, Eugene Pieter Romayn Feldman, b. 1915-d. 1987 – poems, essays, letters by and to Eugene Pieter Romayn Feldman Margaret T. Burroughs, editor (1988)

His name was Du Sable and he was the first (1990)

Africa name book (1994)

A shared heritage : art by four African Americans by William E. Taylor and Harriet G. Warkel with essays by Margaret T.G. Burroughs and others (1996)

Lawrencia “Bambi” Bembenek , known as Laurie Bembenek, was convicted of murdering her husband’s ex-wife, Christine Schultz, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on May 28, 1981. Her story garnered national attention after she escaped from Taycheedah Correctional Institution and was recaptured in Canada, an episode which inspired a TV movie and the slogan “Run, Bambi, Run”. Upon winning a new trial, she pled no contest to second-degree murder and was sentenced to time served and ten years probation. Since then, she had sought to have the sentence overturned.[1]
Bembenek was a former Milwaukeepolice officer who had been fired and had gone on to sue the department, claiming that it engaged in sexual discrimination and other illegal activities. She worked briefly as a waitress at a Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Playboy Club. At the time of her arrest, she was working for Marquette University‘s Public Safety Department, in downtown Milwaukee.
On November 20, 2010, Bembenek died at a hospice facility in Portland, Oregon, at the age of 52.[2]

(August 15, 1958 — November 20, 2010)

Biography

Bembenek was born on August 15, 1958. In March 1980, she had joined the Milwaukee Police Department as a trainee. There she met and became close with a fellow trainee named Judy Zess. At a rock concert in May 1980, Zess was arrested for smoking marijuana. Bembenek’s subsequent dismissal from the Police Department on August 25 stemmed from her involvement in filing a false report on Zess’ arrest.[3]

Murder of Christine Schultz

On May 28, 1981, at approximately 2:15am, 30-year-old Christine Schultz was murdered by a single .38 caliber pistol shot fired pointblank into her back and through her heart. She’d been gagged and blindfolded and her hands were tied in front of her with rope. Her two sons, then 7 and 11 years old, found her face down on her bed and bleeding.[4] The older boy, Sean, had seen the assailant and described him as a masked male figure in a green army jacket and black shoes. He also said the man had a long (approx. 6″) reddish-colored ponytail.[5]
Christine Schultz was the ex-wife of Laurie Bembenek’s then-husband, Elfred “Fred” Schultz, a Milwaukee Police Department detective. They’d been divorced six months at the time of the murder. Fred Schultz initially stated he was on duty investigating a burglary with his partner, Michael Durfee, at the time of the murder, but years later he admitted they were actually drinking at a local pub. When ballistics testing revealed it was his off-duty revolver that had been the murder weapon, suspicion shifted to Laurie Bembenek, as she had been alone in the apartment she shared with Schultz and had access to both the gun and a key to Christine’s house that Fred Schultz had secretly copied from his oldest son’s house key.[4]
Fred Schultz had previously been exonerated in the fatal shooting of a Glendale, Wisconsin, police officer on July 23, 1975. The Glendale officer, George Robert Sassan, had arrested a subject in a bar while off-duty. Milwaukee Police officers, including Schultz, responded to the call in suburban Glendale (outside their jurisdiction), reportedly mistook Sassan as a suspect and shot him to death when he turned toward them, holding a gun. Schultz and his partner were cleared by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office in the shooting of Officer Sassan.[6]

Trial

Bembenek’s trial generated tremendous publicity, and newspapers began referring to her as “Bambi” Bembenek (a nickname she disliked). The prosecution portrayed her as a loose woman addicted to expensive living who wanted Christine Schultz dead so that her new husband would no longer have to pay alimony to his ex-wife. The prosecution pointed out that Bembenek also had financial problems. The prosecution claimed that Bembenek was the only person with the motive, means and opportunity to carry out the crime. The strongest evidence was two human hairs, found at the crime scene, which matched ones taken from the hairbrush of the defendant. The gun used to kill Christine Schultz turned out to be Bembenek’s husband’s off-duty revolver. The prosecution claimed that Bembenek was the only person besides Fred Schultz who had access to this weapon. Blood was found on the gun. Bembenek supposedly also had access to a key to Christine Schultz’s home. There were no signs of a break-in and no valuables taken. Schultz’s eldest son stated that Bembenek was not the person who had held up their house and shot his mother.[7]
Witnesses testified that Bembenek had spoken often of killing Christine Schultz. The prosecution produced a witness who said Bembenek offered to pay him to carry out the murder. According to witnesses for the prosecution, Bembenek owned a green jogging suit similar to the one described by Schultz’s son. It was pointed out that Bembenek owned a clothes line and a blue bandanna similar to what was used to bind and gag the victim. A wig found in the plumbing system of Bembenek’s apartment matched fibers found at the murder scene. A boutique employee testified that Bembenek purchased such a wig shortly before the murder.[8]

Conviction

Post-trial publicity

Shortly after Bembenek’s conviction, Fred Schultz filed for divorce and began saying publicly that he now believed Bembenek was guilty. Bembenek filed three unsuccessful appeals of her conviction, citing police errors in handling of key evidence and the fact that one of the prosecution’s witnesses, Judy Zess, had recanted her testimony, stating it was made under duress. Bembenek and her supporters also alleged that Milwaukee police may have singled her out for prosecution because of her role as a key witness in a federal investigation into police corruption. Bembenek’s supporters suggested that Fred Schultz may have arranged to have someone else murder his ex-wife. One possible candidate was Frederick Horenberger, a career criminal who briefly worked with Schultz on a remodeling project and was a former boyfriend of Judy Zess.[4] A disguised Horenberger had robbed and beaten Judy Zess several weeks prior to Christine Schultz’s murder and would later serve a ten-year sentence for that crime.[9]
According to a number of affidavits which emerged following Bembenek’s conviction, Horenberger boasted of killing Schultz to other inmates while he was in jail. Yet publicly, Horenberger vehemently denied any involvement in the Schultz murder up until his suicide in November 1991, following a robbery and hostage-taking stand-off in which he had been involved.[10]
There were questions raised as to the accuracy of the information and the evidence used in the trial. Dr. Elaine Samuels, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, had originally concluded that hairs recovered from the body were consistent with that of the victim; after Dr. Samuels had come to that conclusion, the hair evidence was examined by Diane Hanson, a hair analyst from a crime lab in Madison, Wisconsin. Hanson stated that two of the hairs were consistent with samples taken from Laurie Bembenek’s hairbrush. Dr. Samuels refuted that claim, stating in a 1983 letter, quoted in the Toronto Star in 1991, that “I recovered no blonde or red hairs of any length or texture … [A]ll of the hairs I recovered from the body were brown and were grossly identical to the hair of the victim … [I] do not like to suggest that evidence was altered in any way, but I can find no logical explanation for what amounted to the mysterious appearance of blonde hair in an envelope that contained no such hair at the time it was sealed by me.”[11]
The apartment where Laurie and Fred lived shared drainage with another apartment. In the shared drainpipe was found a brownish-red wig which matched some of the hairs found on the victim’s body. The woman who occupied the other apartment testified that Judy Zess had knocked on her door and asked to use her bathroom; after Zess used the woman’s bathroom, the plumbing was mysteriously clogged. And Zess had admitted to owning a brownish-red wig.[12]
In prison, Bembenek became a model inmate who was highly respected by her fellow prisoners. She became one of the few convicted killers to ever earn a college degree, graduating from the University of Wisconsin–Parkside. She also met and became engaged to Nick Gugliatto, the brother of another prisoner. On July 15, 1990, she escaped from prison with Gugliatto’s help. Her escape reignited publicity surrounding her case, and she became something of a folk hero. A song was written about her, and automobile bumper stickers were sold with the slogan “Run, Bambi, Run”.
She fled with Gugliatto to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, where the couple spent three months as fugitives before being apprehended. Bembenek pleaded for refugee status in Canada, claiming that she was being persecuted by a conspiracy between the police department and the judicial system in Wisconsin. The Canadian government showed some sympathy for her case, and before returning her to Wisconsin, obtained a commitment that Milwaukee officials would conduct a judicial review of her case. The review did not find evidence of crimes by police or prosecutors, but detailed seven major police blunders which had occurred during the Christine Schultz murder investigation, and she won the right to a new trial. Rather than risk a second conviction, however, Bembenek pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and received a reduced sentence which was commuted to time served. She was released from prison in November 1992, having served a little over ten years.[13]

Life after prison

Bembenek had written a book about her experience, titled Woman on Trial (ISBN 0-00-215746-2). Since her release, she had various legal and personal problems. She was arrested again on marijuana possession charges, filed for bankruptcy, developed hepatitis C and other health problems. She also admitted to being an alcoholic. She legally changed her name to Laurie Bembenek in 1994.
In 1996, she moved to Washington.[2]
In 2002, Bembenek either fell or jumped from a second-story window, breaking her leg so badly that it had to be amputated below the knee. Bembenek claimed that she had been confined in an apartment by handlers for the Dr. Phil television show and was injured while attempting to escape.[14]
Bembenek continued to insist she was innocent, but the Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to overturn her no contest plea, saying such a plea cannot be withdrawn. In April 2008, Bembenek filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court seeking a reversal of the second murder conviction. Bembenek’s attorney points to evidence not heard in the original trial, including ballistics tests matching the murder bullets to the gun owned by Fred Schultz, male DNA found on the victim, evidence the victim was sexually assaulted, and the eyewitness testimony of the two young sons who said they saw a heavyset, masked man. Bembenek’s petition argued the court needed to clarify whether defendants who plead guilty or no contest have an opportunity to review evidence comparable to the rights of those who plead not guilty. Her appeal was denied in June 2008.[15]
Her case was the inspiration for two television movies[16] and various books and articles portraying her as the victim of a miscarriage of justice. However, she was unsuccessful in her efforts to have her conviction overturned.
In 2004, MSNBC produced and aired a biography of Laurie Bembenek on their Headliners and Legends television show. Bembenek did not take part in the show.
She was interviewed by Mike Jacobs of WTMJ in Milwaukee for an interview which aired on October 28 and 29, 2010.[17]

Death

On November 16, 2010, WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee reported that Bembenek was slipping in and out of consciousness and near death in a hospice care center, suffering from liver and kidney failure.[18] On November 20, 2010, she died at a hospice facility in Portland, Oregon, aged 52.[2]

Personal life

He was December 30, 1957 in New York City, New York, the son of Marilyn Kolmer, a boutique owner, and Jay Robert Lauer, a bicycle-company executive. Lauer is of Romanian descent, as seen on the Today Show’s “Finding Our Roots.” His parents divorced during his youth, and his father died in 1997. Lauer had become co-host of The Today Show replacing longtime host Bryant Gumbel in early 1997, not long before his father’s death. In 1999, both Lauer and his cohost Katie Couric initially resisted participation in Today’s proposed series about their family roots. The series turned out to be a hit, and Lauer was moved by what he learned about his immigrant ancestors. “My dad was Jewish. My mom is not. So I was not raised anything. I do feel a desire now to find something spiritual. Getting married and wanting to have kids has something to do with that.”Lauer was married from 1982 until 1989 to a television producer named Nancy Alspaugh. The marriage ended in divorce. From 1989 until 1996, he dated Kristen Gesswein, a television newscaster. They were briefly engaged.In 1998, he married Annette Roque, a Dutch model known as “Jade.” She appeared in one of Revlon’s 1991 ads, “The Most Unforgettable Women in the World Wear Revlon,” along with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover girl Daniela Pestova and supermodel Elaine Irwin, who is married to John Mellencamp. During Roque’s pregnancy with their third child in 2006, she and Lauer separated. Although Roque filed for divorce in Manhattan Supreme Court on September 13, 2006, the couple subsequently reconciled.

Career

Lauer is a School of Media Arts and Studies (formally the School of Telecommunications) graduate of Ohio University. He attended Ivy Tech, but left six credits short of graduating in 1979. In 1997, he received his degree from Ohio University. The university awarded him his remaining credits by counting his journalism experience as “independent study” towards his degree. Lauer began his television career in 1979 as a producer of the 12 o’clock news for WOWK-TV in Huntington, West Virginia. By 1980, he had become an on-air reporter on the 6 and 11 o’clock newscasts. He then started to move around the country to further his career, hosting a number of weekly information and talk programs in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond. He was also host of PM Magazine from 1980-1986 and worked for ESPN in the 1980s. He worked on the show “Talk of the Town” during 1988.
Lauer got his first job in the New York area when he was hired to host a three-hour live interview program, WWOR-TV‘s 9 Broadcast Plaza, from 1989–1991. In 1990, he was hired by the Kushner-Locke Company to host a pilot called “Day In Court,” executive produced by veteran producer David Sams, who helped to launch the Oprah Winfrey Show into national syndication. The program was retitled, “Trial Watch,” when it went to series, and ran on the NBC network for two seasons. Ironically, NBC chose to hire Rob Weller, as host, over Lauer when the program was picked up as a daily series. Lauer moved to WNBC-TV in 1992 where he became co-anchor, alongside Jane Hanson, of the early weekday news show Today in New York. After a year, he also filled the role of Live at Five co-anchor with Sue Simmons. He held that job until 1996.

NBC News

Lauer’s broad on-camera presence provided him with many opportunities with NBC‘s national news organization while working for WNBC in New York. Lauer filled in as the newsreader on The Today Show for Margaret Larson when needed from 1992 to 1993. This “audition” period allowed him to join The Today Show full-time in January 1994 as news anchor, while still co-anchoring Today in New York and Live at Five.
Lauer stepped in for Scott Simon, Mike Schneider and Jack Ford as the co-host of Weekend Today, and for Ann Curry as anchor of the former NBC News program NBC News at Sunrise from 1992 to 1997. He had also filled in for Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly News. As the Today Show news anchor, he also pinch-hit for Bryant Gumbel on the Today Show before being named the official co-anchor on January 6, 1997, after Gumbel stepped down. In April 2006, Lauer announced that he intends to stay with Today until 2011.
In addition to his duties on the Today Show, Lauer has also hosted programming on the Discovery Channel and MSNBC.

Career highlights

Beginning in 1998, Lauer has embarked on a once-yearly five-day globe-spanning adventure called “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?“ on the Today Show. It was named after the PBS game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? from which it borrowed the theme song. This segment has sent Lauer to the far reaches of the Earth where he has reported on the importance of each location. In recent years, he has broadcast from locations including Bhutan, Easter Island, the Panama Canal, Iran, Hong Kong, Croatia, and the Great Wall of China. For 2009 NBC announced this popular segment would not be airing because of the country’s economy.
On some occasions, interviews conducted by Lauer have escalated into tense exchanges. In a June 2005 interview, Tom Cruise started an argument with Lauer about psychiatry and postpartum depression and called Lauer “glib“. In December 2008, three and a half years later, Cruise said that he regrets the exchange, and even playfully arm-wrestled Matt Lauer in the same studio where the confrontation took place.
In a June 2006 interview with Ann Coulter, Coulter responded to Lauer’s questioning her criticism of September 11, 2001, widows and said, “You’re getting testy with me.” On December 30, 2009 during an on-set Birthday Party for him, Lauer introduced “Barney Miller” and “Fish” TV star Abe Vigoda who was standing behind the cameras. Lauer then warmly invited Abe to come over and sit on the couch where Lauer announced that Abe Vigoda was his favorite guest of all times on the “Today” show. The two then discussed Matt’s Birthday and Abe’s long career.
In November 2006, Lauer and his daughter Romy hosted the Sesame Street direct-to-DVD Sesame Beginnings: Exploring Together.
Lauer hosted The Greatest American on the Discovery Channel, which used Internet and telephone voting by viewers to select the winner. Lauer was critical of his own program since it tended to favor well-known figures over others who had less influence in pop culture. Since 1998, he has co-hosted NBC’s live coverage of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Lauer guest-starred as himself on a live episode of Will & Grace in early 2006. (Former co-anchor Katie Couric had guest-starred as herself on an episode of the same NBC sitcom a few years earlier.)
On June 19, 2007, he interviewed Prince Henry and Prince William of Wales.
Lauer served as the 2009 Class Day speaker at Harvard University’s undergraduate commencement ceremonies on June 3, 2009.
Matt Lauer appears as himself in the Land of the Lost movie, appearing in the beginning when Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) appears on his show and single-handedly ruins his career. Lauer appears again at the end of the film, when Rick shows up with his new book Matt Lauer Can Suck It. Both scenes ended in violent physical confrontation between the two, with the staff trying to break them up. The first confrontation was caused by Marshall and the second by Lauer after Marshall gloats how his new book’s title was legally acceptable.
Lauer has also co-hosted the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games. He has broadcast with Bob Costas the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer and 2010 Winter Olympics, carrying what his former co-host Katie Couric had done since the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Did you know what Anorexia nervosa? Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that involves limiting the amount of food a person eats. It results in starvation and an inability to stay at the minimum body weight considered healthy for the person’s age and height.

Did you know that persons with this disorder may have an intense fear of weight gain, even when they are underweight? Not eating enough food or exercising too much results in severe weight loss.

Did you know the exact causes of anorexia nervosa are unknown? Many factors probably are involved. Genetics and social attitudes toward body appearance may play a role. Some experts have suggested that conflicts within a family may contribute to this eating disorder.

Did you know that Anorexia is more common in people who have relatives with the disorder.

Did you know that risk factors include:

Accepting society’s attitudes about thinness

Being a perfectionist

Being female

Experiencing childhood anxiety

Feeling increased concern or attention to weight and shape

Having eating and gastrointestinal problems during early childhood

Having a family history of addictions or eating disorders

Having parents who are concerned about weight and weight loss

Having a negative self-image

Did you know that eating disorder is seen mainly in Caucasian women who are high academic achievers and who have a goal-oriented family or personality?

People with anorexia may severely limit the amount of food they eat, or eat and then make themselves throw up. They may also use water pills (diuretics) and laxatives to lose weight.
Most individuals with anorexia nervosa do not recognize that they have an eating disorder.
Behaviors that may be noticed in a person with anorexia include:

The biggest challenge in treating anorexia nervosa is having the person recognize that the eating behavior is itself a problem, not a solution to other problems. However, most persons with anorexia nervosa deny that they have an eating disorder. Individuals often enter treatment when their condition is fairly advanced.
The goals of treatment are to first restore normal body weight and eating habits, and then to address the psychological issues.
A hospital stay may be needed if:

The person has lost a lot of weight (below 30% of their ideal body weight for their age and height)

Anorexia nervosa is a serious and potentially deadly medical condition. By some estimates, it leads to death in 10% of cases. Experienced treatment programs have a good success rate in restoring normal weight, but relapse is common.
Women who develop this eating disorder at an early age have a better chance of complete recovery. However, most people with anorexia will continue to prefer a lower body weight and be preoccupied with food and calories to some extent. Weight management may be difficult, and long-term treatment may be necessary to help maintain a healthy body weight.

Talk to your doctor if your child is restricting his or her food intake, over-exercising, or excessively preoccupied with weight. Getting early medical help before abnormal patterns are established can reduce the severity of an eating disorder.